Barack Obama's planned upcoming visit to Indonesia has spurred new police raids that have left one top militant dead and  Islamist lying low.

But there are concerns that the security services may overreach, at a time when the US is preparing to end the 12-year-old ban on training an elite unit of the Indonesian military some of whose members have taken part in beatings, kidnappings and other violations of human rights. 

 Four members of the Indonesian Komando Pasukan Khusus, or Kopassus, including its commanding general, Maj. Gen. Lodewijk Paulus, were in Washington last week to discuss the proposal.

Police are monitoring Islamist networks and patting themselves on the back for grabbing Southeast Asia's most-wanted terrorist, Noordin M Top, after suicide bombings at two luxury Jakarta hotels last July shattered a four-year lull in attacks. 

The Malaysian-born Noordin was shot dead during a police raid last September, but there are still fears of  new attacks.

"Noordin Top is not the only militant cell within the [Islamist] network. He's just one general, but there are some other generals," said Brig. Gen. Tito Karnavian, who was appointed head of the antiterror unit late last year.

"The most important and powerful leader in the world is coming to Indonesia, so the authorities have to tame any possible attack by jihadists," Noor Huda Ismail, an Indonesian analyst of extremism, told AFP.

Obama along with First Lady Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha are expected to visit Indonesia, where he spent four years as a child, from March 20 to 22 before heading on to Australia.